The baby diet
If you want to get pregnant, tossing out your birth control pills and having lots of sex is only the start. You also have to get your body in tip-top health, and your diet is a big part of that. Not only can eating the right nutrients and avoiding potentially harmful foods make it more likely that you will get pregnant in the first place – they also will make it more likely that you will have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. At the end of the day you are what you eat doesn’t just apply to you – it also applies to your baby!
The basics of eating for pregnancy
Making wise choices when it comes to your diet will benefit both you and your baby, but if you’re used to existing on a diet of soda and junk food, where do you begin? Overall you need to think in terms of a good balance of healthy, unrefined carbs, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, with limited amounts of fatty, sugary foods. Start thinking along these lines even before you start trying…
- Protein This is vital to sustain your baby’s growth and development. Sources include lean red meat, poultry, pulses, beans, soybeans, tofu, eggs and cheese.
- Fiber Pregnancy hormones that relax your muscles and ligaments can have the same effect on your digestive tract and many women report constipation in pregnancy. Eating plenty of fiber (find it in whole grains and fruit and veg) can help you avoid this.
- Carbohydrates If you tend to eat refined carbs (white bread, rice and pasta) substitute them with unrefined – wholegrain cereal and bread, brown rice and fruit and veg.
- Calcium This mineral is crucial for the development of your baby’s teeth and bones, and also helps keep your muscles strong and healthy (there’s also some evidence it might help relieve leg cramps, which are common in pregnancy).
- Iron You need this to ensure a good supply of red blood cells, which transport oxygen to your baby and your own muscles and organs. Natural sources include lean red meat, wholegrain bread and cereal, kidney beans, spinach and dried fruits.
- Vitamin C This is essential for the development of your baby’s skin, bones and tendons. It helps tissue repair itself and heightens your body’s resistance to infection. It also helps your body to absorb iron properly. The best food sources of vitamin C are citrus fruits, broccoli, tomatoes, spinach and potatoes.
- Vitamin B6 This aids your baby’s overall development and may help ease morning sickness during the first trimester. The best dietary sources of B6 are salmon, eggs, green leafy vegetables, watermelons, bananas, soy beans, peanuts, milk, potatoes, bread, beef, liver, pork and some fortified breakfast cereals.
Protect your baby from spina bifida with folic acid
Folic acid is the synthetic version of the B vitamin folate, which is found in leafy green vegetable such as spinach, kale and bok choy, avocados, peanuts, fortified cereals, breads and orange juice. It’s vital for the development of your baby’s neural tube, which eventually develops into your baby’s central nervous system: her brain and spinal cord. In spina bifida, the neural tube doesn’t develop properly and although less severe cases can be surgically corrected at birth the operation doesn’t restore function to the affected part of the spinal cord. Another type of neural tube deformity is anencephaly , where the brain doesn’t form properly.
Folic acid has been shown to decrease the incidence of spina bifida by up to 75 percent, when taken prior to pregnancy and for the first three months, when your unborn baby’s neural tube is developing. Take a 400-600mcg supplement daily, and eat plenty of folate-rich foods also.
Junk the junk food
It’s nutritionally empty and won’t benefit your baby or you. A sugary diet could put you at risk of gestational diabetes, plus it’ll result in you piling on pregnancy pounds that could affect your birth and could be difficult to shed once your baby arrives. Keep in mind too that a diet high in fats appears to increase your risk of morning sickness. Refined carbs (white bread, rice, cakes) need to go too – the nutritional goodness is stripped from these in processing and they lack nutrients that are essential for fertility, such as antioxidants, B vitamins and iron.
Don’t skip meals
If you’re in the habit of skipping meals then try to avoid doing this in the run up to trying for a baby. Once you are pregnant you will have to eat regularly to provide your unborn baby with the nourishment she needs. If you are on a restrictive diet (for example if you are a vegetarian or vegan) speak to a nutritionist about where you might need to increase your intake of some foods, since your iron intake will be important once you become pregnant. Getting enough vitamin B12 can be a challenge for vegetarians and vegans, so take a prenatal supplement that contains this vitamin, since it’s vital for processing folate. It’s found in poultry, red meat, liver, fish, cheese, yeast and eggs.
Eating disorders can play havoc with your fertility so if you suffer from anorexia or bulimia speak to your doctor about how you can over come these conditions and eat a healthful diet while pregnant.
Eat fish
But choose the right kinds. Omega-3 fatty acids promote fertility, but if you’ve been alarmed by reports that fish is high in mercury then steer clear of the fish most likely to be affected. The US food and Drug Administration advises that pregnant women can safely consume up to 12 ounces of low-mercury fish each week – good examples of fatty fish that are low in mercury are canned salmon and light tuna. Avoid fish that is known to be high in mercury (including canned albacore tuna, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel, tuna steaks, shark, orange roughy, marlin, and grouper).
Drink healthy
What you drink prior to conception also is important. Alcohol can make it harder to get pregnant and also can harm your unborn baby even before you know that you are pregnant, so start avoiding it before you start trying to conceive. If you are in the habit of drinking a lot of caffeine, bear in mind that some studies suggest it may interfere with conception. Other research suggests that it may increase the risk of miscarriage if you consume more than 300mg (about three cups of normal strength coffee) a day. Remember that soda also may contain caffeine when calculating how much you consume.
Avoid foods that could harm
While you’re pregnant your immune system functions at a slightly lower level than normal, so you can be at risk from infections passed on through food.
Listeria is a bacteria that can cause miscarriage and stillbirth. It may be present in some cheeses, so avoid mold-ripened soft cheeses such Brie and Camembert, and blue-veined cheeses, such as Stilton (they can be eaten if they’ve been thoroughly cooked). You should also avoid cheese from unpasteurized sheep or goats’ milk. Hard cheeses and soft processed cheeses, such as cottage cheese, cream cheese and cheese spreads, are fine to eat. Unpasteurized milk and milk products also can contain listeria, as can unwashed salad vegetables, so wash these thoroughly before eating them.
Toxoplasmosis also can be present in unpasteurized milk and milk products, and can cause premature birth, low birthweight, jaundice and eye problems, and unwashed salads. Undercooked meat also can cause toxoplasmosis, listeria and salmonella if it hasn’t been cooked properly. Eat your steaks well done for the next nine months and avoid smoked and deli meats and ready-cooked poultry, unless it has been thoroughly reheated. You can eat meat and poultry that has been cooked thoroughly all the way through. Avoid sushi that contains raw fish, and raw or undercooked shellfish such as oysters, mussels, cold prawns and crab.
Salmonella also may be present in undercooked eggs, but hard boiled eggs are safe, as are scrambled eggs as long as they aren’t runny. Avoid homemade mayonnaise made with raw egg (store-bought is fine, but restaurants often make homemade mayonnaise with raw egg, so always ask first), and mousses made with raw egg.
The information in this feature is intended for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional.
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Last Modified: 19/10/2009